198
Pesticides, Organic Contaminants, and Pathogens in Air
FIGURE 11.3
A foor plan of restaurant tables and air-conditioning fow at the site of a coronavirus outbreak
in Guangzhou, China. The yellow circle indicates an infected patient; red circles show future
patients (Reprinted from Lu, J., Gu, J., Li, K., Xu, C., Su, W., Lai, Z., Zhou, D., Yu, C., Xu, B.,
and Yang, Z. (2020, July). COVID-19 outbreak associated with air conditioning in restaurant,
Guangzhou, China. Emerg. Infect. Dis. J. - CDC. 26(7). https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.200764.
Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Additional research has attempted to model the spread of COVID-19 via
air in environments (Azimi et al., 2020). “A research team based at Harvard
and the Illinois Institute of Technology tried to understand how the virus
moved from person to person and room to room on the cruise ship Diamond
Princess, in which 700 of 3,711 passengers tested positive with the virus in
a month,” (Carey and Glanz, 2020). Their computer model indicated that the
virus spread most likely via microscopic droplets light enough to linger in
the air and circulate via the ship’s ventilation system. The study reinforced
use of effcient masks, social distancing, and frequent replenishment of ventilated air with fresh air as important tools to prevent virus spread.
11.3 Other Airborne Diseases
Coronaviruses are one of many classes of diseases that can be transmitted
through air. For example, coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection caused by
inhaling the spores of either Coccidioides immitis or Coccidioides posadasii fungi.
These spores are endemic to the soils of the American Southwest and can
get into the air when the soil is disturbed—for example, via wind, construction, gardening, or farming (American Thoracic Society, 2011). Like coronaviruses, the severity of the infection is largely dependent on the degree of
Pesticides, Organic Contaminants, and Pathogens in Air
FIGURE 11.3
A foor plan of restaurant tables and air-conditioning fow at the site of a coronavirus outbreak
in Guangzhou, China. The yellow circle indicates an infected patient; red circles show future
patients (Reprinted from Lu, J., Gu, J., Li, K., Xu, C., Su, W., Lai, Z., Zhou, D., Yu, C., Xu, B.,
and Yang, Z. (2020, July). COVID-19 outbreak associated with air conditioning in restaurant,
Guangzhou, China. Emerg. Infect. Dis. J. - CDC. 26(7). https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.200764.
Courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
Additional research has attempted to model the spread of COVID-19 via
air in environments (Azimi et al., 2020). “A research team based at Harvard
and the Illinois Institute of Technology tried to understand how the virus
moved from person to person and room to room on the cruise ship Diamond
Princess, in which 700 of 3,711 passengers tested positive with the virus in
a month,” (Carey and Glanz, 2020). Their computer model indicated that the
virus spread most likely via microscopic droplets light enough to linger in
the air and circulate via the ship’s ventilation system. The study reinforced
use of effcient masks, social distancing, and frequent replenishment of ventilated air with fresh air as important tools to prevent virus spread.
11.3 Other Airborne Diseases
Coronaviruses are one of many classes of diseases that can be transmitted
through air. For example, coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection caused by
inhaling the spores of either Coccidioides immitis or Coccidioides posadasii fungi.
These spores are endemic to the soils of the American Southwest and can
get into the air when the soil is disturbed—for example, via wind, construction, gardening, or farming (American Thoracic Society, 2011). Like coronaviruses, the severity of the infection is largely dependent on the degree of